Guardian
by Nakaru Uzumaki
Summary: When the Traveler first came to Earth and eventually brought it's enemy, The Darkness, with it, it burned itself out in a failed attempt at destroying it. In it's final breath, it sent out scouts to look for undead warriors to protect humanity in its wake by giving them the gift of its Light in order to carry out its purpose. However, no one ever said that Light was good...
1. Eyes Up

_**Guardian**_

 _ **A/N: Hey guys, I'm really tired while writing this. I have no real excuse for my absence except for the fact that college is kicking my ass. I've wanted to write a Destiny story for a while now ever since Taken King came out way back in D1 and now that I decided to redownload the first one over again and replay that sweet sweet original story once more, this idea popped up into my head again.**_

 _ **I literally wrote the first half of this in class yesterday and the other half while I was taking a break from writing a 10 page essay for my English class. So, lemme know what you guys think of this. Leave a review and let me know if you want the next chapter I pump out to be Chapter 2 of this or the next Chapter of Bonfire. I'm not gonna promise an upload schedule or anything because I don't know when I'll be able to make time to write like this again at least until Winter Break. And sorry about any inconsistencies or grammar errors, like I said, I'm really exhausted at the time of publishing this.**_

 _ **EDIT: I fixed the errors guys.**_

 _ **Also, Happy belated Thanksgiving, I hope all your holidays were amazing.**_

 _ **Without further adieu, I present to you, Guardian!**_

 _ **Now I'm going to sleep.**_

 _Eyes Up_

" _Welcome… to a world without Light."_

 _~?_

"Alright boys, you ready?"

I heard my own voice echo through Julian's headset that happened to always be turned up way too loud.

" _Oh yeah."_ , Antonio's voice cut through the PlayStation party like glass. I could practically hear his beak-like nose scratch against his broken mic as everyone put their high level gear into the vault before logging out of our characters at the same time. It was about ten thirty so the darkness of the night and the pale light of the moon had already claimed the sky over an hour ago, leaving me to be the only person awake in my house.

" _Not with that attitude, you won't."_

Michael's snarky voice passed through my headset as I quickly heard Jayden mimic him in the dumbest voice I'd ever heard immediately afterword. I really could not deal with this group. They were my friends and all, yeah, but by now they should know to just not argue with Michael since he was literally the embodiment of a troll. As in, you get angry and he laughs. All the time.

I sighed before repeating myself, "Alright, everyone ready?"

I heard a chorus of confirmation from the other five members of the party, eliciting a blink from me at the sudden response. You see, it was very rare to get anyone to respond to you on the first go in our little group without having to repeat yourself at least twice let alone everyone at the same time. But, nonetheless, I appreciated the oddity and proceeded to create a new character.

What we were gonna try to accomplish now was beating the world record of getting to Light Level four hundred in the shortest amount of time. To this day, I still don't remember what the record was, but, after that night it became the furthest thing from my mind.

"Michael, start the clock."

I heard the beep from his iPhone and everyone hit confirm on the character creation screen at the same time.

 _Bzzt._

My power went.

Everything in my room shut down immediately.

I grabbed my phone of the charger that was no longer providing power to the device to check something and, sure enough, the WiFi was out too, so it was safe to assume that it was a blackout for the entire house. Not only that, but, since everyone else was asleep, that meant it'd only be dealt with in the morning if ConEd didn't come during the night to fix it themselves.

"Oh fuck me, I guess we're not breaking that record this weekend."

" _What the fuck? Xavier? How come your voice is still coming through the mic?"_

I blinked, "Julian?" I took my headset off and sure enough, it was off too, the lights were out. I put it back on quickly despite the notion that I was probably hearing things.

" _Yo did everyone else's power go out too?"_ , Pedrow's voice came through next. This was really starting to freak me out, especially since my system was off. Multiple "yeahs" came through in confirmation and Michael was quick on the draw to sum up the situation.

" _I guess our headsets are possessed by Satan now."_ A snort fled my nostrils before I broke out into a laugh at his next words. " _Time to throw them out."_

" _Boy!"_ , Antonio came through next through, voices his thoughts on the incredulity of the statement. " _You woulda fuckin' thought I was throwing out these hundred and fifty dollar headphones!"_

"No one told you to buy headphones that cost that much, bozo.", I told him. "I got my shits for twenty and they've worked fine for more than a year. You bought the same pair three times over the summer and they broke the same day _and_ Turtle Beach still hasn't gotten back to you about the refund."

I heard a snicker come from Pedrow's end so I continued. "We understand you have a job now, money man, but that doesn't mean shit if you're broke the day after you get every paycheck because you have no fucking money management."

A chorus of laughter finished off the roast and I could practically hear Antonio breathing heavily in anger.

But, just before he could reply, our magical headsets cut out. I blinked before taking them off to examine them. Flipping them over I muttered to myself, "Damn, and the convo was just getting good too."

I set them down on my dresser and picked up my phone, noting that it was actually fully charged just in time for the blackout. "Nice", I grinned.

 _Bzzt._

I glanced at my tv and jumped out of bed and onto my feet when I saw a bright green eye staring back at me. It was a magnificent jade with just a hint of a gradient within. It narrowed at me, it's squinted form somehow making its vertically slitted onyx pupil seem more menacing than it already was. In all seriousness, I should've freaked out at this point, but, that eye… there was something mesmerizing about it. And there was something strangely familiar about it, too, I just couldn't put my finger on it. And then, it spoke.

" _Mmm, yes. You shall do nicely."_

I blinked and then everything went black.

 _(...)_

"… _an…"_

I couldn't move. I felt like I was being pinned to the ground, not by somewhere laying over me, but rather like my body was filled with lead. But, in the same vein, I felt as though I was weightless, floating on the surface of a body of water with the sun glazing over me.

"… _ardi…"_

My ears twitched at the sound, as if they were now way more sensitive than they could've ever been. I could tell it was a shout, but, though it sounded really far away, I could tell it came from not two inches from my face.

"… _ardian!"_

 _Ooh,_ my head hurt. It wasn't all that bad, but it was strong to grab my attention away the voice calling to me through the black.

" _Eyes up, Guardian!"_

The voice shattered the inky darkness around me and I opened my eyes, welcoming a world of white as all the pain of my headache was suddenly gone. I blinked slowly, watching as a plethora of color finally faded into view just as the smell of copper and rust assaulted my nose. And then the soreness settled in. It felt as if I'd slept on a bed of nails with my head hanging off the side.

Don't ask me how I know what that feels like, it's just what came to mind at the time.

Sitting up, I stretching my arms to the sky before rolling my head to get rid of the soreness and almost immediately I found myself sighing in relief at the loud _pop_ that resonated from my neck when I angled my head down toward the right side of my collarbone. Looking around, I took in my surroundings.

My heart skipped and my palms started to sweat.

 _This is definitely not my room._

A massive wall of stone stood a few ways to my right, expanding along the plain as far as the eye could see, the top seemingly crumbling away as I sat there and stared at it. Gulping I looked over to my left and saw a sea of completely rusted cars and melted tires. They were literally everywhere and the more I took in my surrounding the more I began to realize where I was and what I was on. A massive highway went through the wall and, presumably out to the other side.

I say presumably because a large chunk of the wall had collapsed over the entire portion that went through it.

" _Hey!"_

A ball of light just suddenly appeared in my face and all but _shouted_ at me. It happened so fast with no pretense that it actually nearly made me piss myself.

"Gah!

I quickly realized what I was sitting on just as I reared back from the light and was sent tumbling down a mountain of rusted pickup trucks and sedans. First I hit my shoulder on a side mirror, breaking it off before I effectively smashed my side onto the hood of a minivan, causing me to bounce right off and over the side again just as hit my head on a sharp piece of rust.

All that before I landed painfully on my ankle.

I laid there in shock, the adrenaline keeping me from feeling the pain that an ankle looking like _that_ should've caused. Breathing heavily and blinking rapidly, I started to count the spots floating in my vision before they suddenly disappeared. Along with the adrenaline.

"Ah!", I screamed in pain, my left hand quickly moving to grip my right thigh, trying to stop the pain from my ankle spreading up my nerves to no avail. My right arm laid beside me, unresponsive. I glanced at it and noticed that it was _very_ dislocated. Gritting my teeth, I brought my head back down to the dusty and cracked asphalt below me. Tears in my eyes, I looked up and saw that same ball of light from before. It wasn't inherently scary, it was just the shock of its appearance that knocked me off of the stack of rusted cars.

" _Oh my gosh! Are you okay?"_

An aura of ethereal cyan energy laid over me like a second skin before I winced at the feeling of my shoulder popping back into place while a sharp yelp escaped my lips when I felt and saw my foot twist into its natural position while my ankle slid back to where it was supposed to be. I sat up slowly, eyes widening ever so slightly when I felt no pain whatsoever. Sitting up straight, I watched the ball of light at my side move in front of me and now that I got a good look at it, I realized it wasn't a ball of light at all. At least not in the literal sense.

It was a Ghost.

I gawked at its plain white exterior, looking closely at the the small scratches in its shell as it floated lazily in front of me, its-

" _Hello Guardian. You don't know how happy I am to meet you."_

 _-her_ individual pieces spinning with barely contained whirring sounds. I blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. And then I almost passed out. _Almost._ Instead, I began to hyperventilate, the sound of my heart beating against my ears. She quickly realized something was wrong as her eye flashed a bright cerulean for a moment.

" _Guardian?!",_ her panicked voice barely reached my ears as I gripped my plain blue tee. " _Guardian?! What's wrong?! Oh no, did I resurrect him wrong? I knew I should've been more patient, but I was just too excited that I found him!"_

My breath hitched and I felt my eyes flutter closed.

" _Guardian!"_

Then I passed out.

 _(...)_

She sighed.

This was definitely not how she expected to meet her Guardian. She sighed again, something she felt would become a habit of hers in the near future, but allowed herself to smile in her own way. She had met with the Vanguard after she woke up before she was deployed in search of her Warrior of Light, leaving her to spend one thousand two hundred and thirty seven hours looking for her Guardian.

Not like she was counting or anything.

But, she did count herself lucky considering the things that exo Vanguard, Cayde, had told her before she departed.

" _Don't be discouraged if you don't find them right away. There are some Ghosts that take centuries to find their Guardian."_

That stuck with her and worried her more than she could possibly begin to imagine. And it was completely irrational too! It wasn't like she was racing against time; she didn't have anything better to do and it wasn't like the Last City was short on Guardians. She just wanted to find him quickly so when she did manage to find him relatively fast she was just so excited that she couldn't help but snag his attention away from his surroundings the first chance she got.

She didn't mean to make him fall off of the tower of cars he was laid up on!

It just… sort of happened, okay?

She could heal him from injuries galore, but, she couldn't help exhaustion or mental overload so she sat there on his slowly rising and falling chest and just looked at him. She didn't scan him or anything, she just took all of him in. Almost immediately she realized something that was rather concerning. See, just about every Guardian she saw during her voyage to find him was fairly aged, as in they were all somewhere in between their late twenties to mid thirties in Earth years. But, this one…

Her Guardian was _young._

He looked as if he were still maturing, he barely even had any facial hair. The stubble that was there was so light that if you didn't look directly at it and know what you were looking for, you wouldn't see it. She looked at the black tee shirt he wore and stared confusingly at the two dimensional man donning orange and blue robes on it for a moment before turning to look at the dried blood caking the hair on his legs. She looked back at his peaceful face and if she had eyebrows to raise, one would be just short of flying off of her forehead.

" _I hope he's not too mad about the whole falling thing when he wakes up."_

They would need a ship to get back to the Tower and she had no idea how she'd find one. She probably should've used the time she had while he was unconscious to go out and look for one close by if there were any, but… that could wait a while. With that, she established the mental link with her Guardian and powered down, the light of her eye dimming until it was barely on and allowing herself some rest from her journey. No, Ghosts didn't inherently need rest, but by _God_ was she tired.

 _(...)_

When I woke, the moon was high in the sky, hanging among the stars in a sea of inky darkness. It was a beautiful sight and I could swear that I'd look at it forever if I could. But, I immediately knew something was wrong when I felt the dirt and gravel beneath me. Sitting up slowly, I looked at the pebbles in my palm, letting them slowly fall between my fingers. I looked up to my left and saw the mountain of rusted trucks and the spatter of blood on the corner of one near the bottom.

"So it was real…"

Suddenly a weight shifted in my lap, causing me to look down.

" _Hi."_

The feminine voice kept it short and sweet, attempting her best to keep her parts from moving so as to not frighten me again. Except, I don't think I was as scared as I was excited. Slowly and gently, I moved my hands beneath the small machine and lifted her up so I could get a closer look at the light in its center that served as its eye, taking in every detail of every scratch and dent of her shell. I could feel myself smiling. It was a Ghost. Not some metaphysical Halloweeny shit, but an actual hyper advanced AI birthed by the Traveler itself. The conclusion of my surroundings smacked me like a ton of bricks and I immediately accepted it. Coma or insanity or any other rational explanation be damned, I hoped this would never end.

With a grin stretching from ear to ear I spoke, "You are are the coolest thing I've ever seen."

Her eye brightened considerably just as the Ghost lifted up and out of my hands before doing a little twirl in front of me.

" _Why, thank you!"_

Standing with a grunt, I raised my hands high above my head and stretched, feeling my bones pop as if I had woken from a thousand year nap. "So", I started as I glanced up at the full moon before beginning to make my way around the pile of rust, smiling when I saw that familiar tutorial path. "Where are we?"

She whizzed in front of me, moving to my left shoulder and hovering above it, " _Oh that's right, they said you wouldn't remember anything. Well, we are on a planet called Earth, but right now we're in the Cosmodrome in Old Russia."_

I nodded that same smile still plastered on my face as I continued walking down the path. That is, until I was reminded that i was still in nothing but a t-shirt and basketball shorts when I stubbed my toe on a stubborn rock.

"Ah! Damn it!", I raised my foot and squeezed my toe within my hand, trying to stave off the pain just before a flash of light shined over it and it was gone. Looking at it briefly in surprise, I planted my foot back down on the ground, careful to avoid such things on the ground as I kept walking. "Hey", I spoke without looking at her as I stepped over a particularly sharp piece of rusted metal hiding in the dirt. "You don't happen to have any shoes do you?"

I was hopeful.

Yeah she could heal me, but, stepping on glass and shit still hurt.

" _As a matter of fact.",_ she whizzed in front of me, effectively rooting me in place in the process. Her eye suddenly shot out a beam of concentrated light focused into a horizontal line and slowly slid it over me from the tips of the hair on my head to the bottom of my feet. " _I do."_

In a flash of light I had the starting armor on.

I blinked and lifted my hands, flexing the surprisingly fitting white gloves around them before knocking on the armor plates covering the back of my hands, listening to the hollow clangs with delight. I looked at my feet and saw the faded white boots adorning them before I lifted my hands up to my head, running my gloved fingers over the scratched metal of the helmet. The armor looked tanky and by the lack of cloak and robes, it was safe to assume this was the Titan set. And the best part of it all? The armor felt as if it weighed nothing more than a feather.

I looked back up the Ghost and before I could say anything, she vanished in a flash of light just before my view lit up, that familiar radar appearing in the top left of the screen while the Ghost appeared in the top right as a spinning icon.

" _Sorry I don't have anything better, it was the best I could do with the Glimmer I had.",_ she spoke up as I started walking again, kicking the next stone I saw on the ground away from me as I distantly noticed the crack in my view over in the bottom right, almost as if it were glass. " _Once we find a ship and get back to the Tower, I'm sure the Vanguard will outfit you with something better."_

"Ah", I said, playing along. "So that's our goal right now? Where would we even find a ship?"

Her icon spun once in my view before she gave me an answer as I walked up the stairs into the darkness, " _My scans are picking up a faint radio signal on the other side of this complex, the kind of vessels used during the Golden Age."_

Her icon vanished and once again she was at my side, banishing the darkness to the corners of the room I was in. I followed the area from memory, climbing the stairs until I came across a short, grated bridge and a flash of red blinked in my peripherals.

I stopped, frozen. It took all of my willpower, the little bit of it that I had, to keep from pissing myself. That's right, I told myself, this was where you pick up the auto rifle. That's when I saw the eyes in the darkness ahead of me.

"I see you!", I pointed over at it, my voice wavering as I wagged my finger at it. "I see you over there mother fucker! Fuck you!" I might've been announcing my presence to the other creatures scaling the walls deeper in, but, I didn't give a fuck, I was scared out of my mind.

" _Guardian, that's a Dreg."_

Her voiced drawled through my helmet like she was disappointed in me, but, as if remembering I wasn't a veteran killer and not to mention that I wasn't even an _adult_ yet, she corrected herself. " _Come on, you got this. I'm gonna provoke it, you wait for it to come to you and punch it in the face as hard as you can, okay?"_

"W-what?! N-no don't do that!", I screeched just before her flashlight became the most powerful camera flash in existence, brightening up the entire room and irritating the Fallen. The Dreg rubbed it's four eyes briefly before charging me, dagger in hand. I turned to run, before a soothing hand caressed my mind and dissolved my fears. Looking back on it, I can vaguely recall my hand growing hot as I balled it into a fist.

It came to me, slashing its knife at me. I saw its eyes widen as I blocked the dagger with the armor plating on my forearm before I slugged it right across the face.

 _Zzzt!_

I saw my hand for the first time since it started heating up as it soared into the alien's face, watching in awe as sparks of cerulean electricity raced out from my fist and into the Dreg, electrocuting it and causing it to float upwards, disintegrating into the atmosphere.

I stared at where it last existed before looking down at my hands, watching the lightning dance through my fingers. I felt the unfamiliar buzz of what I assumed to be Arc energy funneling through my veins, filling me with energy I didn't know I had. Wisps of electricity leapt from my fingertips briefly before fizzling out of existence.

"Whoa.", I breathed, unironically breathless.

" _See?",_ I looked up to see the Ghost appearing before me, parts spinning in excitement. " _I said you could do it, didn't I?"_

I shook my head, smiling like a loon all the while, "Yes you did."

I held my right hand over my face, concentrating on the feeling from before. A frown crossed my features and I was almost going to give up, before small sparks of blue lightning began to dance across my palm. I smiled and closed my fists canceling out the energy.

Striker Titan.

…

"Fuck yeah."

As if she read my mind, the Ghost vanished from sight in a flash of light, her icon appearing on my visor as I took off down the path, a new sense of courage welling up in my chest as my boots pounded against the metal beneath me, the sight of the Vandals in the distance not even phasing me.

 _(...)_

" _Thank you."_

The Guardian gave her a curt nod before his Ghost transmitted him back up to his ship. She briefly watched it fly off into the distance, becoming little more than a black dot amongst the pale green sky before she turned and started her path. She needed to find them, she didn't want to be here any longer than she needed to. She'd find her Guardian, find a suitable ship, then circle back for the Guardian to revive them so they could get back to the Tower as soon as possible.

A pulse of light fled her body and left something of a marker in its wake, showing her the general direction of where she'd find her Guardian.

The first time she used that ability had been after the Vanguard- _fun lot, they were_ -had sent her off when the Guardian that'd brought her here had smacked into her by accident. The Light flew out of her shell and went straight up. Thank the Traveler that he had been a chivalrous fellow, else she probably wouldn't have even made it off planet, let alone all the way to Venus.

Glancing off to the side as she flew through a dirt path littered with rusted out Golden Age vehicles, she spotted a stray Goblin in the distance, keeping watch in front of a building. She'd rather not deal with them, but, one look at the direction of the faint light path and how it curved around the bend and towards the back of the compound it was guarding, one of the things she needed to find was most likely in their territory.

Audibly sighing in exasperation, the Ghost pushed on, determination in her eye.


	2. Chest-High Walls

_**Guardian**_

 _ **A/N: Fuck's sake, it's been a while, huh? Not really an excuse, more of an apology, but all I have to say is that college is a bitch. I nearly failed almost all of my classes from the last semester so I took a break from everything, gaming, writing, all that jazz, so I can get my shit together for this semester and I think I can say that I've got it all handled at the moment. Regardless, I have no clue when I'll update again, but, I'll try to make it before the end of March. Anyway, without further adieu, I present the second chapter in Guardian, Chest-High Walls!**_

 _Chest-High Walls_

" _Alright partner, this is Cayde riff in six, watch me for the changes, and, uh… try to keep up."_

 _~Cayde-6._

I've never been much of a fighter, I've always preferred to talk things down with people that had problems with me and as such, I'd never been in much of a fight ever, so I really had no knowledge of how to even approach a physical conflict. But, now?

I don't know what makes this Light that the Traveler has tick, but, holy shit am I glad I have it.

"Ha!", I yelled as swerved beneath a cross slash from a Vandal and around to his back before I wrapped both arms around his torso, locking them. The four armed creature never saw the suplex before its head exploded against the ground in a shower of white ether. Its decapitated corpse plopped away from me as I straightened back up before glancing at the trace amounts of ether, as opposed to the rest which now ghosted away through the air, dancing on the breeze that strolled in.

Turning back around, I walked through the darkness covered room that I knew by heart at this point.

" _Hold on, let me just…"_

Not a second later, a cacophony of clicks went off in the distance as the strobe lights above us flickered on, revealing the horrors that awaited in the dark. I stopped and felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I looked dead ahead. A Fallen Captain hung there, two of its arms stationary as its hands hooked into the steel wall like clay. The other two hefted a big cannon over its shoulder while it stared me down, it's Arc shield becoming visible in a sheen of light, before vanishing again. It screeched something in its native language before turning and scurrying up the wall and out of sight.

Letting go of a breath I didn't know I was holding, I placed a hand over my heart and waited for it slow down. "What did it say?"

" _I don't know. But, whatever it was, it can't be good.",_ She said, sections of her shell detaching and rotating. " _We should keep moving before it decides to come back."_

"No complaints from me.", I watched her vanish before appearing on my visor as I moved forward, something white and rusted catching my eye. Walking over to it, I bent down and placed a gloved hand on it, smiling.

The Khvostov.

" _You know how to use that thing?"_

The curiosity in her voice was telling.

"No.", I replied bluntly as I picked it up, feeling the weight of the rifle and getting familiar with it. "But, it can't be that hard, right?"

I didn't know a lot about guns initially, but I did play this game to death so that had to count for something right? Picking up the surprisingly light gun and holding it tight to my shoulder, I closed an eye and looked down the sights, realizing just how old the rifle really was. The holographic sight was cracked to the point where it was unusable without damaging your eyes which was to be expected. But, the trigger was stiff, I noticed when I pulled it lightly to test its sensitivity, careful not to fire it, and found more resistance than there probably should have been on an automatic rifle. Not to mention the stock itself was nearly rusted over completely. A thought occurred to me briefly before I gripped the sight and, with strength I half-expected to have at this point, I crushed it, rendering it as no more than a chunk of rusted metal and a few shards of glass. I felt rather than saw the Ghost grow curious as I brushed off the useless pieces and looked down the now iron sights with a small smile.

"There.", I spoke. "Much better."

Pushing forward, I held the gun up with a vague sense of concentration. I say vague since most of my brain was busy geeking out over the weapon that was subject to become an exotic in my hands along with… well, literally _everything else._ Then a thought occurred to me.

Man I'm just having good ideas left and right today, huh?

"Hey, can you play music?"

A silence draped over me before she appearing in front of me again, parts spinning. " _I have a limited range of Pre-Golden Age classical music."_

I stopped, gawking, "Classical? What? Why do you only have classical music?"

She floated up before dropping back down to eye level in what I assume was a shrug, " _Ikora suggested it."_

I blinked.

Whether she was _already_ fucking with me, which I highly doubted given her character, or she genuinely thought that I would like classical music more than literally _any_ other genre, I made up my mind regarding the Warlock Vanguard.

"We are gonna have words about this later."

Hearing my surprising tone of finality, she vanished again with what I could swear was a small giggle, leaving me to walk through the compound in silence once more. Turning a corner, I spotted a lone Dreg with it's back facing me. Smiling to myself, I walked forward, careful not to alert the multi-eyed alien as I lifted the automatic rifle once more, looking down the sights and resting my hand on the trigger.

"Hey!"

It turned and I fired, clicking the trigger for all but half a second. I watched in supreme satisfaction as the Fallen soldier's head all but exploded in a small shower of white ether, my smile widening at the lack of any real recoil from the four-fifty archetype gun.

" _Nice work, Guardian."_ She materialized beside me, quickly scanning the enemy's weapon before a small glowing white box appeared out of thin air just as quickly as it vanished. I watched in amusement as the weapon UI faded into view on my visor, the silhouette of the weapon appearing beside two numbers, one bigger than the other. I held a button on the side of the stock and pulled the clip out, watching as a bullet materialized within to refill it. Clicking it back into place, I watched the small number go down by one as the big _24_ became a _25._

"So, as long as I have reserves, I don't have to worry about refilling clips myself then?", I thought out loud.

" _That is correct."_ , she didn't appear this time, instead talking to me through the helmet. " _Any glimmer dropped from the enemies you defeat, I can program into ammunition and if we can't hold any more ammo or don't need it at the moment, I can store the glimmer for later use."_

"Huh.", I listened with interest as I came up on the body, stepping over it slowly. "Neat."

" _Mhmm.",_ she hummed. " _And I'm not talking through your helmet comm, by the way. I'm speaking through our mental link."_

A flood of information filled me, explaining how the mental link for Guardians worked. You know, basic stuff that I already assumed.

"Also neat."

I walked over the alien corpse and stepped around the corner only to be stopped short by the sound of her voice ringing in my head again.

" _Wait! Be careful, those are tripmines!"_

I looked ahead and didn't see anything until suddenly my HUD lit them up like a Christmas tree for me to see. I crouched and slowly maneuvered my way under and passed the criss-crossing beams. Standing up, I saw a hallway split by a mass of rusted pipes sitting in the middle. Choosing to move along the left, I saw a chest, tucked away in the wall, a blinking green light being the only way I saw it at all, it blended in so good.

" _Hey, a loot cache. I wonder what's inside.",_ she materialized and used her scan beam to unlock the chest, its top sliding open to reveal a bundle of glimmer.

" _Hmm.",_ she mumbled. " _Pre-programmed glimmer. It looks like…"_

Suddenly the Khvostov was on my back and a random common shotgun was in my hands, its stock and trigger significantly less rusted than the auto rifle. I blinked and look down at it, feeling its weight in my hands before pumping it once to feel for its capable reload speed, which was pretty impressive by how little resistance there was in the pump itself.

Holding it tight, I pressed forward in silence, tensing when I reached the open room that quickly filled with Dregs and Vandals.

Or rather, it should've, but, it didn't.

Instead of any resistance whatsoever, I was allowed to skip right past it and into the massive waterlogged vent. Maybe since it was near midnight instead of sunset, there were less foot soldiers on patrol? Or maybe it was just my presence? My being here in the Destiny universe probably had some sort of substantial effect on it that I wasn't aware of yet.

Well, whatever. I wasn't gonna find anything out just standing around.

Walking through the water, I turned the corner and stepped into the doorway, shards of glass crunching under my white boots. I gripped the shotgun tighter when I saw a Fallen ship fly low above the open plain between me and the next building, a group of Dregs lead by a Vandal dropping onto the earth to become my obstacle.

" _The transmissions are weak, but the radio signals coming from the ship are just up ahead in the basement of that building."_

I breathed a low, shaky breath as more hostiles fell from the Fallen dropship when it circled back around, a small spark of fear getting the better of me.

" _It's okay to be scared."_ , that same soothing feeling from before came back, but stronger this time. " _It keeps you on your toes; it keeps you alive. But, you can't let it control you."_

I relaxed against its calming touch. Ah, so it was her last time. Okay then.

"So, how do we go about getting from here to there.", I spoke when I felt the fear completely fade away with her help.

" _Well, we could just sprint by them, guns blazing until we get past, but there's undoubtedly a bigger threat crawling around the jumpship, so bringing them along the ride down there with us might not be such a good idea."_

"Okaaay.", I drawled as I took in more of the environment, noting the three Vandals moseying about, each with a group of Dregs on their tail. I realized that rather than the big yard that was supposed to be there, it was instead just a flat grassy plain with some rusted cars strewn about between the vent I'd just walked out of and the dilapidated building I had to reach. "So then we need to sneak around them to not alert them."

" _Exactly."_

I looked to my right for any cover I could use to get around them until I noticed something- _or rather, some things-_ that I didn't remember being there the last time I played this opening mission, but, I guess that was a given since the entire environment had all but warped into what I could only perceive to be easy mode for this game.

"Are those chest-high walls?", a smile split my face at the cliche game environment that was always constructed for players that were about to engage in a firefight.

" _It would appear so. Why do you ask?"_ , she asked.

I quickly ran over to the closest one, crouching low once I reached it. Peaking over to make sure they didn't see me, I let my smile grow into a smirk when I ensured they hadn't, switching the shotgun for my trusty, rusty auto rifle.

"Well", I told her as I took aim at the Vandal apparently giving orders to the Dregs to not stick so close to it. Bad decision on his part; I almost felt bad. Almost. "It would be pretty bad if they heard the gunfire of me inevitably having to fight whatever the hell is down there with the jumpship and came rushing down after all the effort I put in to sneaking around, right?"

" _Yeah, so-oh."_ , I could practically hear her servers click when she figured out what I meant. " _Okay, I see your point. Then, I'll back you up as best I can."_

The radar flickered to life in the top left corner of my HUD, the north portion saturated completely red, indicating the hostiles in my sights.

Breathing slow, I tightened my aim, and squeezed the trigger.

 _Bang-Bang!_

Two shots fired off in quick succession from the old auto rifle in my hands, popping the Vandal's head like a balloon and sending a small shower of ether into the air. The Dregs in its group screeched an intelligible sound and every hostile scattered, some taking residence behind rusted cars while others took cover behind the chest high walls closest to them, each searching for the origin of the gunshots.

I peaked over the wall again and fired another burst at the Dreg scanning the environment from behind the rusted car to my left. Turns out it had a buddy with it because the first bullet shattered its skull like glass and the second sent another shower of ether into the air behind the first.

"Nice."

Now, normally if I were playing the game with a controller I wouldn't be no bitch and sit here to pick them off one by one, but I was really here this time and I'd rather not get shot at, thank you very much.

So, that's what I did.

Admittedly, it got very boring after the first minute of hide and seek with the group of Dregs and two Vandals that were dumber than a stick, but the fear of a lucky Shock Pistol bullet smacking me in the face and ending me right there kept me grounded and focused. Now, I was _very_ aware and well versed in the concept of Guardians and the Light as Destiny was one of, if not my absolute, favorite game, but I'd seen a lot of media that involved things like the " _If you die in the game, you die in real life."_ type deal. I wasn't sure of the specifics of how I'd gotten there, but, that concept alone was enough to keep me from pushing my luck.

Eventually, when the last bits of red faded from my radar, I gently stood up, stretching the kinks out of my knees after having been in the same position for almost ten minutes straight.

" _Well, that was anticlimactic."_

"Hey.", I shot back at her in a slightly playful tone. "I didn't wanna get shot at, okay?"

She sighed through our link and I could feel her exasperation. " _Listen, you're a Titan so you're literally built to take hits from grunts like them. And even if you had somehow died, I could've revived you, so there's really no reason to worry."_

Again, I understood the lore of the universe, but I still frowned at how casual she said that and without any regard for how I felt about it.

"Hey, I'd rather not die _at all,_ if that's alright with you."

I knew she could hear the edge in my voice when she became silent because I could hear it too and it kinda scared me, but I stood my ground on the matter. I assumed dying sucked, so I'd rather not feel it over and over again.

Reaching the building, I climbed down the stairs and set foot in a shallow puddle just outside a doorway. I was about to step through until a I saw a ripple in the waters beneath me, only to catch a glimpse of a Captain walking by, arc shield and all, except this one had sunflower yellow tips in its hair and was about twice the size of the one I'd seen just before I picked up the Khvostov. I quickly pressed my back against the side of the the door frame and stood stiff, holding my breath when I saw the center of my radar flashing its scarlet warning as quickly as it could.

' _Can you still hear me?'_

I was too terrified to speak, but I could still ramble in my head.

" _Yes I can. Mental link, remember?"_

I thanked every god that had any sort of potential to exist.

' _Great, now how the FUCK are we supposed to get past that?'_

I spared a glance around the corner to see the giant Captain giving order to other Captains that disappeared into a hole in the wall opposite of the jumpship before him. I could see a few Dregs crouched over it, small sparks flying as they used tools I'd never seen before to mess with the ship's tech.

" _Specifically? That high-ranking Captain has a pretty weak arc shield and seeing as those Dregs are preoccupied right now and also don't seem to have any ranged weapons on their person, I think a good Fist of Havoc would send it sky high. Then you could pick off the rest so we can get out of here."_

I blinked when a flood of information was suddenly shoved into my head; simulated memories on how to perform the super. Then I smiled.

' _Thank you so much for not leaving me to figure my own way around this.'_

I took a breath, then I lunged.

Shooting around the bend, I heard the puddle splash beneath my feet, alerting the big boy and its cronies to my presence. He spun around to meet my eyes before I jumped as high into the air as I could, lifted my hands, balled them into tight fists above my head and slammed them into the ground upon my landing before any of them could even hope to react even further than they already had.

The ensuing shockwave of energy was enough to send me flying back into the wall. I hit it with a groan and slumped to the ground, but not before seeing the damage it'd done.

The high-ranking Captain was immediately obliterated by the overload of arc energy into its system and the Light infused electricity bounced off its corpse before it floated up and disintegrated like the Dreg I'd punched with my melee ability earlier, causing the jumpship behind it to shake from the impact and the Dregs atop it to shriek before disintegrating afterword.

The Ghost materialized before me, its beam scanning over me as I struggled to push myself off the ground.

" _Are you okay? That looked like it hurt."_

Thankfully, the armor had saved me from having the wind knocked out of me so I wasn't gasping for air, but everything still hurt and I was suddenly really exhausted. Most likely from the super since I don't remember Fists of Havoc being _that_ overpowered.

"Yeah", I waved off her concerns as I slowly stood up, watching her float backwards, giving me room. "Just remind me not to do that again without a little practice beforehand."

She nodded and turned to the ship, before hesitating and turning back around to face me.

" _Listen.",_ she spoke, guilt lathered across her words. " _I'm really sorry about what I said before. I wasn't taking your point of view into perspective and I stepped over a line I shouldn't have crossed."_

I opened my mouth to speak, to tell her it was fine, but, she cut me off.

" _You just came back to the land of the living and were thrust into a hostile world you didn't know anything about with no memory of who you were when you died the first time around. This world must be so big and new to you and I hadn't even thought of it, let alone taken it into consideration.",_ her parts spun as what sounded like a sigh escaped her. " _I'm sorry, and I hope you can forgive me."_

I blinked owlishly, mouth unhinged as she ended her apology. The Ghost, the one I know that was voiced by Peter Dinklage and later replaced by Nolan North was an asshat so to speak. He was a shallow, by the book, stick in the mud with no character depth to speak of whatsoever.

But her?

I felt a small spark of pride swell in my chest at the idea that my Ghost wasn't just an autonomous plot machine, but a person with thoughts and emotions, one that felt guilty for their actions and felt happiness for receiving personal compliments.

I smiled brightly, "Hey, it's cool. At least you learned from it, right?"

If she could beam, she would've. " _Yeah."_

We both turned to the jumpship suspended in midair by wires and vegetation, vines and such, walking closer to inspect it further.

"Man.", I said with a wolf whistle. "It looks like it's been here a while."

" _Definitely more than a while, I'm afraid."_ , she said as she floated up to the ship, flashing her scan beam over a portion of its surface before disappearing in a flash of light, her icon blinking into existence over my HUD again.

I took off my helmet and scratched the back of my head. "Do you think it'll fly?"

" _I hope so.",_ she spoke through the link, sounding genuinely worried now that the thought had crossed her mind. " _Because if not, then we'll have to look for another ship and there may not even be one for us to find if this one can't take off."_

She huffed indignantly. " _Even so, I'd rather we not stay here any longer than we have to, especially with how low those Fallen dropships are to the surface. They've got a way bigger hold on this old Cosmodrome then I thought."_

I scrunched up my face in thought before putting the helmet back on and facing the hole in the far wall, a worried expression flashing over my face as a memory came to me.

Then a small rumble shook the ground beneath my feet and I nearly pissed myself at the size of the crimson eyes peering out at me through the dark.

"U-uh!", I stammered nervously. "You might wanna hurry it up in there cause we've got company!"

The massive Fallen creature leapt from the hole, a massive rifle in its hands. A deafening roar erupted from the mouth that I couldn't see before it leveled its weapon at me. I was too tired and too terrified to move an inch, so all I could do was hold the Khvostov loosely in my grip while it steadied its aim at me and prepared to blow my brains out.

" _Aha! I got it!"_

A foreign feeling, one that was most akin to floating and nausea, _not_ a fun mix by the way, overcome me as a flash of light blinded me for a brief second before I was suddenly thrown on my ass. Landing harshly on a rusted metal floor, I blinked away the constellation in my eyes and stood, looking to see the ground becoming further away through the windshield of the jumpship that I assumed I was now in.

" _There's no way it'll breach orbit in the condition it's in."_ She said, materializing next me as I sat in the chair with a sigh of relief, my helmet being whisked away by a flash of light. " _But, it'll definitely be able to get us to the City."_

"For fuck's sake.", I breathed the stress out of my system. "I do not wanna go back there."

At her odd silence, I turned to see her fidgeting beside me. Raising an eyebrow, I readied myself to ask what was wrong before the rest of the Earth campaign missions jumped out at me from the back of my mind.

"I'm gonna have to go back there, aren't I.", My flat tone morphed the question into a deadpan.

" _Probably."_


	3. Heart to Heart

_**Guardian**_

 _ **A/N: Sorry this took so long and also that it's not as long as the other chapters, but I finally got some free time on my hands so I decided to get this out for you guys now before I got swamped with more work. Anyways, enjoy!**_

 _Heart to Heart_

" _You've been here…? All this time…?_

 _~?_

Ruffling a hand through my hair, I turned to the Ghost and spoke, "So, how long will it take for us to get to the City?"

I took a glance at the moon through the windshield while she used her scan beam on the terminal before I turned back to her when her parts divided and spun around.

" _About twelve hours.",_ she hovered for a moment and dropped back into her original position, the gesture that I'd come to associate with her shrugging. " _Give or take."_

"Twelve-?!", I nearly choked on my spit. "Where are we going that it's gonna take us twelve hours?!"

I watched her tilt to the side, looking at me curiously, " _Well, we were just in Old Russia and the Last City is in Southern America."_ She explained. " _This ship isn't really the newest model, y'know. And we don't even have a warp drive. If we at least had one of those we could potentially cut our travel time in half."_

"Alright.", I spoke. "Well, could you get rid of this armor until we get there, then?"

In a flash of light the starter set was gone and I sent her an appreciative smile.

I sat back in the chair, exasperated. Geez, imagine if Destiny loading times were actually twelve hours. I ignored the estranged look she gave me when I chuckled at the thought. I guess the fact that it was gonna take us that long to get there only added more to the thought that all of this was real. But, that just raised more questions. If this was all real, would I ever see my family again? And what happened to the guys? Did they get brought here too, or was I the only one that got punted to this new universe on a whim?

I scratched the back of my head and sighed before laying my hands in my lap.

I was happy. I was looking forward to meeting all these characters that I'd always thought were just fiction and I even had my own little Ghost who was _way_ better than the original main character's Ghost. But, I had a life back home. Back there it was just me, my mom, and my little brother and I couldn't just abandon them. But, how was I supposed to get back? Maybe whatever brought me here could send me home? I doubt whatever sent me here did it without a purpose, though. But, in case it _was_ by accident, how would I even find whoever or whatever brought me here?

I sighed again and in the corner of my eye I saw her watching me intently.

There were way too many questions and just about no answers. Well, whatever. I had no doubt in my mind that I would see my family and friends again someday. Whether I'd just wake up from a coma or actually find whatever had brought me here, I'd see them. Until then, I'd just go with the flow of the world, or more accurately, _universe_ , around me until I found my way back. No point moping about things that were out of my hands when I could just as easily enjoy this new life instead.

But before then…

"Damn, twelve hours, huh? What am I gonna do to pass the time for twelve ho-

I moved my hand in my lap and felt something on my right thigh. I looked down at the indent in my shorts and stared at it for a long time before I eventually put a hand in my pocket to grab it. That familiar rectangular shape in my hand made my eyes light up and I knew she saw my mood change because she floated closer to me, our link detailing just how curious she was.

Pulling it out of my pocket, I stared at the clean, inactive screen before hungrily holding the power button on its side and watching the screen turn on and start booting up.

Soon enough, I was at my lock screen and I was vigorously putting in my password to get to my home screen.

Everything was still there.

All my contacts, my notes, my apps, my-

" _What's wrong?"_ , her voice spoke softly beside me when my head lowered as I opened my gallery.

The first thing I saw was a picture of me, my brother, and my mom on my brother's second birthday. My friend Julian had taken it that day since he came over to celebrate with us. It had us in the kitchen with me laughing while my brother tried his best to look innocent in the face of my mother's angry stare. She was obviously doing her best to look angry, but with the small frosting handprint on her cheek, you could see the small smirk plucking at her lips.

I sighed again and leaned back in the chair.

"It's nothing.", I waved her worries off. "Don't worry about it."

Her top and bottom segments closed together, giving off the illusion that she was glaring at me, though the link told me that it was in concern rather than anger.

" _Do you want me to play some music?"_

My eyes widened. I hadn't even thought about that. And seeing as my phone would eventually die along the road with no way, to my knowledge at least, to recharge it in this universe, this was probably the best idea she could've ever given me.

"Yeah, I'd like that.", I smiled as I held the phone out to her. "But not whatever Ikora gave you. Could you download the music I have on here?"

She tilted to one side and I could feel her confusion, but she still complied nonetheless. She backed away from the phone a bit and displayed her scan beam over the device, sending her recoiling a bit.

" _Whoa!"_ , I heard her surprise before I felt it. " _There are a lot of audio files on here!"_

"Yeah.", I laughed. "And while you're at it could you maybe download all the pictures on here too?"

I was hopeful and I knew she could feel it. I mean, who knew when I'd be able to sift through all my stuff again once the device died, right?

" _Sure."_ , she spoke softly and soon her scan beam disappeared and she tilted her shell up in what looked like a contemplative expression. Her parts split and spun rapidly for a moment before they connected back into place and her eye glowed brighter for a split second before dimming to its natural shade.

" _There's- ...woo, there's a lot to choose from here."_

A small smile graced my lips at seeing at her at a loss for words. That kind of reaction was to be expected since she just got to scroll through my entire music library.

"Yeah, could you pick something at random?", I spun around in the chair having felt it on a swivel during my thoughts as I watched her parts spin from her picking a song. Suddenly music started to play and it sounded as if it was coming from all around me, but when I looked at her, her parts were divided and rotating slowly while her blue optic light was replaced with a neon green ring light.

After a few seconds, I realized that the song that was playing even before the lyrics started was Destiny by Neffex. Fitting, I thought. At least in name, maybe not the words so much.

Stopping the chair from spinning on its axis, I turned and stood, walking about the Arcadia Class Jumpship. It was surprisingly spacious, moreso than I thought it'd be, but, a little homey despite the small, almost unnoticeable, patches of rust lining the corners along the ceiling and the floor. It was about the size of my bedroom with a bare metal floor and two benches lining the two walls facing each other. There were these rusted cubes lining the walls above the benches about the same height as my head when I sat down on the bench, if only a bit higher. Looking closer, I noticed that there were small hooks under each.

"Oh.", I said to myself as I pulled on one of the hooks and saw that there was a strap that felt like leather but was clearly not attached to it. "It's a seatbelt."

There was nothing else really noteworthy about the ship other than the one room it contained and the cockpit with the spinny chair. Allowing myself to slide back into said chair with a groan, I sat back and closed my eyes. There was nothing else I could do about my situation at this point but try to get some rest so my brain was working at full capacity by the time we got to the Tower.

 _You just came back to the land of the living and were thrust into a hostile world you didn't know anything about with no memory of who you were when you died the first time around. This world must be so big and new to you and I hadn't even thought of it, let alone taken it into consideration._

My eyes shot open before they softened at the recent memory.

 _I'm sorry, and I hope you can forgive me._

There was really no need for her to apologize back then, I'd have gotten over it soon enough, but I still appreciated the thought. Even so, her reason was misplaced. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, discreetly watching her segments spinning around her ring light. This was going to be my partner for the foreseeable future. She was gonna be the one constant in my life above all else in the entire universe; at least until I found a way home.

I didn't have it in me to deceive to her like this.

Twelve hours.

I had half a day to explain to her the situation.

Should be no problem, right?

 _(Two hours later)_

I sighed as I slumped back into my seat for what felt like the thousandth time. I had thought this would be easy, telling her what was really going on. Apparently, I was as wrong as wrong could get in that regard. I spent the last one hundred and twenty-something minutes pondering over how I would go about explaining things and I still hadn't figured it out.

On a side note, she had taken an apparent liking to various pop and hip hop songs I had in my library. Not my favorite, but it was okay.

Anyway, everytime I tried to open my mouth to speak I found myself doubting the words that would eventually come out of my mouth. What would she think? How would she react? Could Ghosts leave their Guardians?

Why am I so nervous about all this? Geez, I'm only telling the source of my newfound immortality about my past life, not asking a girl out on a date.

 _Yeah, Xavier, what's wrong with you? You're only telling an intelligent alien lifeform about how you were a nerd all your life and that you remember it. Definitely not as hard as asking a girl out._

I palmed my face and quietly groaned at my thoughts.

 _I really gotta stop making such a big deal about this._

I guess I'd just have to go with my gut and wing it. Definitely not my strong suit, as I'd rather plan out my moves before just flinging pieces across the board, but there was no perfect route to take here. Ah well, as the great Woody Harrelson once said in Zombieland, time to nut up or shut up.

And when Hannah Montana started playing out of my Ghost, that only sealed the deal.

"Okay!", I shouted as I sat up straight. "That's enough music for now, don't ya think?"

I watched her ring light slowly swirl back into her blue optic light as her parts stopped spinning, the music dying down as quickly as it had started. Her top and bottom pieces narrowed together over her optic light and I could feel her annoyance as she stared at me, _"Aww, I wanted to hear that one."_

…

Was she pouting?

"Sorry?", I cringed when it came out as more of a question than anything. I mean, who could blame me? What was I supposed to do in a situation like that?!

I cleared my throat in two quick successions, "I just had something I wanted to talk to you about."

She tilted her shell to the side, _"Is something wrong, Guardian?"_

"I uhh…", I scratched my cheek with a finger and averted my eyes as I thought about what I wanted to say. Might as well just come out with it.

"... you were wrong about earlier."

 _"Huh?"_

I sighed as I began to explain, "Remember earlier, when you said that I was brought into this world that I didn't know anything about with no memory of who I was?"

She nodded.

"You were wrong."

Her parts narrowed again, as if she were scrunching up the eyebrows she didn't have in confusion, _"What do you mean?"_

I furrowed my eyebrows and breathed another sigh.

"I remember who I am."

…

It was quiet for what felt like ages and I honestly felt like my fears were coming to life in front of me. Until:

 _"I know."_

My eyes shot open and I briefly wondered when I'd closed them before I shifted my gaze to the Ghost that was now sitting in my shorts clad lap. I stared at her with wide eyes while she did the same with that hypnotizingly soft blue light.

"You knew?", my voice was surprisingly calm, unlike the meltdown my thoughts were having.

I felt her embarrassment as she shifted in my lap so her light wasn't looking directly at me, _"The link, remember?"_

"But", my mouth was suddenly really dry. "I thought you could only read my thoughts and feel my emotions, not see my memories."

She turned further away from my gaze, _"I don't really know much about how it works. All I know is that I got kinda excited to know more about you when you passed out back there."_

Briefly, the memory of when I fell off that mountain of rusted cars flashed through my thoughts.

 _"And then"_ , her voice broke and she cleared it in three successions. _"and then your memories just came to me."_

She looked back up at me when she finished and all I could give was a blank stare void of any emotion.

"So you just let me stew in my worries for two hours for nothing?", my blank stare slowly turned into a glare.

 _"Sorry?"_ , I heard her sheepish tone before I felt the emotion this time.

I stood up without warning, sending her airborne as I walked into the back of the jumpship. Putting my hands to my face, I groaned, distantly feeling her trail behind me, a foreign feeling of uncertainty flooding my senses.

 _Good job, nerd._

 _"I don't think you're a nerd."_ , her voice, small and sorrowful, filled my ears.

Slowly, I dropped my arms down to my side with a sigh as I practically fell onto the bench lining the wall of the ship. I looked over to her as she floated up to my side, running a hand through my dark brown hair.

 _"I think it's nice that you're so passionate about something."_ , she told me softly, parts spinning. _"It's certainly better than you showing no interest in anything, y'know?"_

Scratching my cheek, I blew out another sigh, "I guess…"

So she knew everything about me? I couldn't even have a hand in the decision to let her see my memories if I wanted to since I was unconscious.

 _"And"_ , she spoke up, dragging my attention away from my thoughts. _"I'm sorry about before."_

When I gave her a funny look at her subsequent silence, she cleared her throat again to explain.

 _"I didn't mean to leave you to "stew in your worries", as you so eloquently put it."_ , I nudged her with my shoulder, eliciting a short giggle from her as a small smile pulled at my lips. _"Regardless of me having seen your memories, I just didn't feel that it was my place to act on it. I knew that if you wanted to tell me, then you would."_

I blinked owlishly at her as she finished. Then I smiled.

 _I'm really lucky to have her._

 _"Yes, yes you are."_ , I heard the smugness in her voice as I stood up from the bench, pride that wasn't mine swelling in my chest.

"Alright alright.", I lightly flicked one of her parts, noting with a smile how the pride in my chest was swiftly pushed out of the way to make room for annoyance. "Don't let it get to your head."

I moved back to the chair by the windshield of the jumpship, settling into the old yet comfy seat once more. With that settled, I guess now I can finally get some rest. I definitely needed some after that conversation; I don't think I'd have enough wit to go toe to toe with Cayde, not to mention the words I needed to have with Ikora regarding the genre of music she decided to fill my Ghost with.

Yawning, I leaned back into the chair with my hands behind my head.

She seemed to have felt my tiredness through the link as she was immediately by my side, her optic light morphing into the emerald ring light, _"Would you like me to play some music so you can get to sleep?"_

I waved down her efforts, "Nah, that's okay. Could you just wake me up when we get there?"

She nodded, _"Sure thing, Guardian."_

"Oh and another thing.", another yawn. "Don't call me Guardian. We just had that heart to heart, it's only right you call me by my name."

 _"Okay…"_ , she paused and I could feel myself falling asleep to the soft humming of the ship.

 _"…Xavier."_


	4. The Tower

_**Guardian**_

 _ **A/N: Sorry this is so late, I've just been really lazy lately. There's not much action in this chapter if at all, just character interaction and setups. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy.**_

 _The Tower_

 _"Is that a boss?"_

 _"That's a boss."_

 _"What do we do?"_

 _"We get the fuck outta here is what we do."_

 _~? and ?_

"Ow…", I groaned as I flopped onto my back after being flung against the wall of the ship from our rough landing. "You know, when I said to wake me up when we get here, I didn't mean for you throw me across the room."

My fingers scraped against the bits of rust on the floor as I turned to look at the new me shaped dent in the wall. I could hear voices and the shuffling of dozens of feet outside through the slowly dissipating ringing in my ears and I couldn't help but smile a little. Of course the personnel in the Hangar would be having a fit over this. We didn't exactly stroll in like kings now did we?

Though, that would probably garner a similar, if not worse, reaction from them.

 _"I can't help it if the engine decides to give out in the middle of our landing.",_ her voice called as I peeled myself from the floor and stood on wobbly feet, a hand on my head to stave away the sudden dizziness.

I placed my other hand on the wall to steady myself, sending her an incredulous look as she flew in from the cockpit, "The _engine_ gave out?"

Her parts spun briefly and she shrugged in that unique way of hers, _"I told you this ship was falling apart. It's nothing short of a miracle with a little help from me that we managed not to crash into the Pacific."_

I sighed and shook the cobwebs from my head before plucking my phone from my pocket, flipping it around and making sure it wasn't cracked or, failing that, broken at the very least. Satisfied with my findings, I put it back in my pocket and scratched my head as I thought about my next move. And subsequently gave myself a headache because of it.

I was never the one to plan ahead for much of anything, I was always the kind of guy that went with the flow of the world around them rather than morph it to my own liking. Antonio was the one who loved his hypotheticals and Michael was the one who always had those asinine plans and ideas of his that somehow managed to always turn out in his favor.

A deep scowl marred my face as I leaned against the wall and really put some thought into what I was gonna do next. That way of thinking that I had handled and embraced for all my seventeen, soon to be eighteen, years of life obviously wasn't gonna fly here. Being a foot soldier wasn't my forte and I was most definitely not cut out to be a hero despite recent circumstances. I abhorred the thought of killing innocents so a mercenary was out the question and politics just didn't exist here as far as I knew. However, despite what _I_ wanted, the choice was almost glaringly obvious.

I sighed. There were big shoes to fill if I were to follow in the footsteps of the Young Wolf.

 _"I think they're waiting for us."_ , her voice shattered my thoughts and I peeked out of the windshield, eyes widening at the sight of the Shipwright and the Hunter Vanguard.

I ran a hand through my hair and suddenly my mind was coming up with excuses, reasons not to go down there and face the inevitable. They were coming at me rapid fire and I cringed at the amount of thoughts bombarding me all of a sudden, trying to push down my procrastination tendencies.

It became infinitely easier to do so when the thought of "I have homework to do" ran by like a streaker in the park.

I took a deep breath to steady myself, in through the nose and out slowly through the mouth. I took one more look at Cayde through the window and let a small smile marr my face at the sight of him barely restraining himself from bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Turning, I looked her in her optic light and grinned a toothy grin, "Let's not keep the welcoming party waiting then."

 _(…)_

"Cayde…", Amanda put her hands on her hips as she gave the Hunter Vanguard a flat stare. The exo was a dear friend of hers, and she was one of the very few people that genuinely found him funny, but there was only so much of him she could take at one time. He had just gotten done 'regaling' her with the tale of one of his missions that she'd heard too many times to count already. Supposedly, it was the last field mission the man had been allowed on since becoming the Vanguard and even though he loved his fireteam to death, he hated that he had to stay in the Tower going over files and such while other Guardians, even the newbies, had all the fun in the field shooting aliens.

Point being, he had just used that ridiculously long and over exaggerated story to ask her for a warp drive in the hopes she would say yes just to get him out of her hair. But, unfortunately for him, she wasn't that easy to crack.

"Oh come on, I'll get you those chocolates you love so much?", she almost broke at the prospect of the man getting her those. He knew she loved chocolate. With a heavy, irritated sigh, she steeled her will and set him with a glare.

 _"Cayde.",_ she ground out between clenched teeth, her countryside accent dripping with irritation. "I'm not just gonna give you a warp drive. Besides, what would you use it for? You can't leave the City with all the work you've been puttin' off."

The exo grumbled and crossed his arms, averting his gaze, "Geez, and after all that storytelling." He looked back up at her to try to give her a reason that she guessed just popped into his head before a loud _crash!_ followed by a horrible screeching sound filled the docking bay.

Amanda jumped at the sound and spun, eyes widening at the sight of a rust bucket of a ship sliding along the ground as it tried to land as steadily as it could. The thing looked like it would fall apart if someone so much as tipped it, so she had to give the pilot credit for not slamming into any of the nearby fuel tanks on accident. It was clear as day to see it was an Arcadia Class, but it had aged horribly. It looked like someone had scavenged it from a junkyard after it had sat there dormant since before the Traveler came to Earth. The paint was practically nonexistent, displaying the metal inner workings beneath that was rusted to high hell. Not to mention the smoke rolling from where the engine presumably was along with all the vines and moss stretching along its frame.

Despite all this, Amanda was still eager to take it apart.

"Hey, is that a new Guardian?", She blinked and Cayde was bounding down the steps two at a time to reach the now stopped ship. People were scrambling to fix equipment that had been knocked over, but she ignored them as she followed her longtime friend toward the ship. She chuckled at his childlike giddiness even as she stepped next to him and waited for the jumpship's ramp to lower.

Amanda's fingers twitched against the trusty wrench in her hip pouch as the airlocks of the old jumpship eventually hissed and clicked, the ramp slowly opening up. She flinched when it stopped halfway before just falling to the ground with a loud _bang!,_ specks of rust flying into the air as it dented the hangar floor.

 _"I'm not going over it again. It can't be helped."_ , a voice, one distinct yet unfamiliar, rang out as light footfalls could be heard.

She perked up at the voice that obviously belonged to a Ghost, eyes peeled and watching as a Guardian she'd never seen before walked down the ramp with careful steps. His armor wasn't anything special, what with his dented helmet and the dirt spread about its white frame. Though Cayde seemed to be very clearly pleased with the sight of the Tower's new arrival, despite them being a Titan.

Speaking of which, she noted that he composed himself rather well as the Guardian walked up to them, stopping and standing stock still.

"Ah! So I see you found your Guardian!", the exo spoke, a smile in his voice.

The plain white Ghost hovering beside the new Warrior of Light tilted its shell, the universal motion of a nod, _"Yep! It didn't take as long as I thought it would."_

"I'll say.", Cayde chuckled before looking to the Guardian.

It was then that Amanda noticed he was shorter than the other Guardians she knew. Not by much mind you, but he only reached up to her nose whereas other Titans towered about a head and a half over her.

"Sooo…", the exo drawled out and she had to stop herself from rolling her eyes and giggling as the Hunter circled around the greenhorn, optics lights scanning up and down his form. She could tell he was uncomfortable and maybe a tad bit nervous if the stiffening of his form was any indication.

Then he stopped and slid to stand in front of the new Guardian, a hand outstretched in front of him, "Welcome aboard, newbie! Name's Cayde-6, that's Cayde riff in six."

The white clad Titan just stood there and stared before a short chuckle escaped him and he took the Vanguard's hand in a firm grip, "Nice to meet you Cayde, name's Xavier."

Amanda blinked, he sounded far younger than any other Guardian she'd spoken too. Not to mention he remembered his name? She could see her friend's shoulders stiffen for a fraction of a second so she was sure he'd realized it too, but neither of them decided to dwell on it.

Stepping forward, she stuck out a hand and gave the Titan a warm smile, "Nice to meet you, Xavier. My name's Amanda Holliday, I'm the Shipwright around here."

He nodded and let go of Cayde's hand to grasp hers, "Nice to meet you too, Amanda."

With that, Cayde cleared his throat and gestured to the stairs leading out to the main courtyard with his thumb, "Alright now that introductions are done, how about we go get you some new armor. Can't exactly have you running around in those rags, now can we?"

She couldn't see his face, but she could tell he was blinking with confused eyes before he looked down at himself, examining his dirty white armor.

Xavier rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

The two Guardians made to move out, but Amanda quickly stopped them, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Um, you don't mind if I take apart your ship, do you?" He tilted his head to the side and she quickly elaborated. "I'll have another one up and ready for you when you get back if that's what you're worried about."

"Ah.", he spoke, nodding. "Sure, I guess. Don't know what you'd get from that old thing though."

She smiled and waved him off, plucking her wrench from her pocket, "Oh, you'd be surprised."

Turning, she let her green eyes roam over the old Arcadia Jumpship, distantly hearing the sounds of the two Guardians' footsteps leading them further away. She couldn't help the glint in her eye and the wide smile that followed as she walked toward the rusted soon-to-be scrapheap.

"You two!", her head whipped around to the two construction bots setting up some recently knocked over canister, ignoring their flinching as she pointed at them with a gloved hand. "You're with me."

She waited as they walked up to stand beside her, "What do you need help with, boss?" Flawless human speech came from one of their external speakers, lacking the beeps that came with the advanced organisms that were Ghosts.

She grinned and gestured to the ship, tapping its hull with her wrench, "We're gonna take this thing apart, see if we can't find anything salvageable." They moved passed her with silent nods, pulling tools from their belts as they went to work along its frame while she began walking up the rusted ramp.

Just as she was about to disappear into the ship's inner cabin, Amanda popped her head back out and whistled to get the two bots' attention, "Put anything salvageable in one pile and turn whatever's left to glimmer after you clean off the rust, but try to keep it organized, will ya?"

One nodded and the other gave her a salute, "Aye aye, captain."

She smiled and disappeared into the ship.

 _(…)_

"Wow…"

I could feel her smile as I, for lack of a better term, "oohed" and "ahhed" at the lights of the City down below us and the sight of the Tower looming above us. A Hunter Guardian with what looked like mid-game equipment brushed passed me and I turned to watch her form as she raced up to Cryptarch Rahool who happily took a Legendary Engram from her. I turned away from the blue skinned man to see Tess's calm gaze sweeping over the courtyard from the Eververse booth while the Postmaster cleaned his counter with a rag. I could even see the Bounty Master bot sharpening a knife at his usual spot while the Gunsmith finished making a transaction with a Warlock, handing a nondescript Scout Rifle over the new smiling Guardian.

I blinked. Now that I looked at the short haired Awoken though, she seemed to be wearing armor nearly similar to mine, with obvious class differences where they applied.

Filing that one away while another Titan and a Hunter walked by toward the Hangar, I followed Cayde as he navigated me toward the stairs where the rest of the Vanguard were, idly listening as she gave introductions.

 _"Welcome to the Last City or, more specifically, the Tower. This is the base of Humanity and the Guardians and where we make our last stand in the Universe against the Darkness.",_ I looked over to her to see her parts spin before she continued. _"It took centuries to build and now we count every day it stands while the Traveler lays dormant over us, offering its protection in the form of its Light."_

I nodded along as we came upon the stairs, noting with a small smile that the Hunter Vanguard had an almost unnoticeable skip to his step. He was obviously trying to stop himself from doing it, but he just couldn't help himself for whatever reason. Normally, no one would be able to see this, as it was only just the barest of movements, but I could see it. You'd think it had something to do with my obviously enhanced senses thanks to the Light, but I like to think that it had to do with the fact that I've always had an eye for the finer details of things. I did plan to become a graphic designer when I finished up with school after all.

…

No, that train of thought lead to ruin. If I kept thinking like that, then I would lose any and all of the excitement that was building up in my chest as we descended the stairs and rounded the corner.

I caught a glimpse of Eris Morn staring earnestly into her crystal ball thing, but my attention was immediately snatched away by the rumbling laughter coming from my right. I felt concern through our link, but I ignored it in favor of stopping to stare at the Titan with the horned orange and white helmet guffawing as he handed a slip of paper to a Hunter and sent him on his way, said Guardian quickly sprinting passed us in what looked like an attempt to get away from the Crucible Handler as quickly as possible.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Shaxx.

Normally, I wouldn't get so worked up over something like this, but he was my second favorite character in the entire game. Second, because my first was obviously Mara Sov. You can say what you want, but Shaxx can never hope to match up to those two overwhelmingly good reasons why Mara was the best character in Destiny.

…

What.

…

What? He _can't._

Mara has two beautiful, round, soft… eyes.

…

Yes, _eyes._ You pervert.

"Oh ho!", a booming laugh and sharp clap on my back physically knocked me from my thoughts and I looked up to see the nearly eight foot tall Titan towering over me. "Got ourselves a new greenie, do we?"

I turned to see Cayde chuckling at my plight before he spoke for me, my Ghost watching with her slightly split shell rotating slowly, "That we do. He flew in on quite the pile of junk. Amanda was gonna look to see if she could find a new jumpship for him to use while we outfitted him with something a little better than what he has."

I couldn't rightly see his face, what with the helmet and all, but I had a feeling he had some sort of gleam in his eye, "Ah, I see." He turned to me, patting me on the shoulder and offering me a hand, "Name's Shaxx, the Hero of Twilight Gap and the handler for the Crucible."

I swear I wasn't beaming when I took his hand in a firm shake, "Nice to meet you, Shaxx. I'm Xavier."

He chuckled, "Likewise. Well, I won't keep you any longer. When you get a chance, come see me, I'd love to see how you hold up in the Crucible."

I smiled despite his inability to see it and nodded, "Sure thing."

He went back to his station and Cayde gestured for me to follow which I immediately complied with, my Ghost hovering above my shoulder beside me. A few quick strides and we were in the Hall of Guardians, people and bots skittering about with equipment more advanced than anything I'd ever seen outside of science fiction. I glanced behind us as we entered the room and saw two _very_ important modules in the wall, one with a vague picture of a helmet lit up on its screen with two golden shields adorning the wall on either side of it while the other had a picture of a long sword with crossed golden swords hooked on the walls beside it.

I turned back around and took in the view. A trio of banners draped down from the ceiling in each corner of the lowered area while a massive window stood tall on the far wall, overlooking the Last City. And in the middle of it all was a long table adorned with various scrolls, books, and a rather large map in front of where Cayde stood.

"Hey, Guardian!", speaking of which. I looked to the far end of the table to see the Hunter waving me over as he stood beside the rest of his fireteam.

She stayed close, hovering inches away from my shoulder as I walked over to them. I had to admit, Zavala may have been my least favorite character, but fuck if he wasn't intimidating. He seemed to sense my unease as I approached them because I had to blink and make sure I wasn't seeing things.

Was he… smiling?

Yup, that was definitely a little itty bitty smile on his face there.

…

Honestly, I think I'd like the perpetual scowl back.

"Guardian, these are the other Vanguards, and my fireteam members.", the Exo gestured to Smurf with the massive shoulder pad. "This is Zavala.", he pointed to the dark skinned woman on the other side of the Titan. "and that's Ikora."

The Hunter then moved to stand beside me and pat a hand on my armored shoulder, "Guys, this is our newest Titan, Xavier." He put a hand over his mouth in my direction to point a whisper toward them, but it was just loud enough that I was clearly meant to hear it. "I got a good feeling about this one."

I gulped and extended a slightly shaking hand toward the Titan, "Nice to meet y-you sir." I bit back a curse at my stutter.

His smile somehow became warmer and actually managed to ease me a bit as he took my hand in a firm grasp, "Likewise. Welcome to the Tower, Xavier. Your shoulders will help us hold up the weight of the Walls."

I smiled behind my helmet and watched his glowing Awoken eyes scale up and down my form in a fraction of a second before he hummed, "Ghost."

"Yes?"/"Sir?"

Two voices, one feminine and originating not two inches from my ear while the other not so much as Zavala's Ghost spun its parts before calming. I looked between the two Ghosts before I sighed.

 _'That's gonna be annoying.',_ I could hear her snort through the link.

 _"I agree, but what are we gonna do about it?"_

I blinked as Zavala spoke with his Ghost about something, _'How about I give you a name?'_

When I say she vibrated, I mean I had to stop myself from doing the same as her feelings of joy poured through me like she was a waterfall and I was a shot glass. I glanced over at her and I could the barest of twitches as she hovered idly beside me.

 _"Really?!",_ I thanked whatever deity that existed that she didn't scream that outloud. I doubt my eardrums would've come back from that intact.

As it was, I still had to repress a flinch when her voice bounced around in my head like a Mexican jumping bean on crack, _'Yeah, but not now though. I don't want one to just pop in my head and we settle for that. I want it to be meaningful.'_

Her raging waterfall of joy calmed, but her blinding happiness could still be felt.

"New members of the Vanguard deserve our support.", Zavala's voice brought both of us back to the present as he held out a small, blue box. Glimmer, I thought. "Take this armor, Guardian. Wear it proudly."

 _My_ Ghost shot her scan beam over it and then the glowing cube of pre-programmed matter vanished. Suddenly, my armor glowed and in a fraction of a second, it was replaced with a set not to dissimilar from what I had before. Not to mention, my overlay wasn't cracked anymore. I was immensely grateful for that if nothing else, it was honestly starting to get on my nerves.

The armor itself had faded white outer layers of tougher armor, while the inner suit was strong and flexible for easy movement. Only downside was the color. I got nothing against blue, but I was more of a green man myself.

I flexed my hands, balling them up into fists and smiling when I didn't hear any squeaking coming from the material under the strain.

I turned and extended a hand to Ikora which she graciously took with a patient smile that I was thankful for.

Not because I forgot about her or anything.

"Nice to meet you, Ikora."

She nodded, "Same to you, Guardian." She paused as she let go of my hand, pursing her lips in thought and I could see she was looking at something over my shoulder. Then she waved a hand in front of her and presented me with another cube of Glimmer. "Here, why don't you go give this to Banshee and he can whip you up a better weapon."

My Ghost flashed her scan beam over the currency as I blinked in surprise before nodding, "Thanks Ikora."

She smiled down at me and shook her head, "No need to thank me, it is my pleasure."

With that I walked back the way I came, long strides carrying me from the Hall of Guardians and passed Shaxx. But, suddenly I was frozen in place by the piercing gaze of the woman who'd made her home at the foot of the stairs. Her trio of glowing emerald eyes bore into my soul through the fabric she had tied over them. Her hands were held protectively over the green crystal ball in her grasp as if it were a baby.

It took more effort than I'd have liked to avert my gaze and bound past her and up the steps.

I gasped for air as I came to the top of the steps, leaning on the hand rail. My heart was pounding and my ears were ringing. My blood felt like it was boiling through my veins.

"What-", I gulped, trying to catch my breath and slow my heart before it decided to actually leap out of my chest. "What's her problem?"

She appeared in front of me in a small flash of light _-when had she dematerialized?-_ and sighed.

 _"That's Eris Morn. She's a Guardian, but she lost her Ghost sometime during an expedition on the Moon."_ , yeah, that much I knew, but why was she staring me down like I was the Antichrist?

I voiced my thoughts.

 _"I don't really know.",_ was her answer as she swiveled in the air to look down toward the steps in Eris's general direction. _"She doesn't do that to anyone else as far as I know."_

I sighed and went to rub my face, and I was about to stop before my helmet vanished in another flash of light. I looked over at her and I swear if she could, she'd be smiling.

I shook my head and rubbed my forehead, that was something I'd have to worry about later. In another flash of light, my helmet was back on and I made my way up another short set of stairs. I stopped briefly to admire the spiralling tree sitting there in all its glory before I moved around it to see a Titan looking over something on the Gunsmith's counter. I tried not to listen in on their conversation, I really did, but it was hard to considering the Guardian was being rather… loud about his issue.

"I'm telling you, this isn't the gun I ordered!", his voice was gruff and frustrated. Like if a bear had smoked all its life before finally gaining the ability to talk.

"This is the order you put in last week. You signed the papers and paid the Glimmer for a Hand Cannon, not an Auto Rifle.", Banshee crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke calmly to the Titan whom I made a mental note of not to get involved with. If only because I knew there would be tons of headaches for me sometime in the near future and if I decided to bunch up with an asshat like him, he'd be the likely cause of about ninety percent of them.

Then, the Titan slammed his hands on the table, an honest to God _growl_ coming out of him, "I did not order a Hand Cannon, damnit!" I narrowed my eyes at the man. "I ordered the Heaven Can Wait _Auto Rifle!"_

The Exo Gunsmith sighed a tired sigh like he'd gone over this song and dance too many times, "I have the shipment papers right here if you wanna see them again. Your signature is on here in agreement for a Hand Cannon."

"You forged those papers and you know it!", I stared incredulously at the man, idly noticing his Ghost hovering beside him, the parts of its blue shell spinning as it tried to calm him down.

Banshee stared at the Titan, unimpressed, "Why would I do that?" He questioned with a flat voice. "What would I have to gain by switching papers for an Auto Rifle with a Hand Cannon?"

The Titan was visibly shaking in anger at this point and that last sentence was all that was needed to push him over the edge. He gripped the Gunsmith by the collar of his shirt and reared his fist back.

I was already in motion before I knew what was happening.

With speed and strength I should have probably expected at this point, I moved to stand behind the Titan and gripped his wrist. It was then that I noticed he was at least six feet tall while I was a measly five foot four.

His movement restricted, he turned his head to look down at the visage of my plain blue helmet.

"What's the big idea?", the bear growled at me. "This has nothing to do with you, so get lost."

I snorted and glared up at him from behind my helmet, "You're not a Guardian, you're a joke." My words seemed to physically strike him because he dropped Banshee and flinched.

"Excuse me?" He snarled, ripping his hand from my grasp.

I shook my head, "You're over here playing 'he said, she said' like a schoolyard bully.", I pointed to the sky. "When instead, you could be out there fighting aliens and protecting people." I stepped forward and poked him in the chest with enough strength to make him stagger back in his stupor. "So like I said, you're not a Guardian, you're a joke."

I felt pride that both was and wasn't mine bubble up in my chest. I had absolutely no clue where the hell _that_ came from, but it felt good to stand up for someone knowing that you couldn't get hurt.

"GRAAH!", The lumbering giant came at me with a wild swing and I was just about to take back my thoughts before my body was in motion again.

My center of gravity dropped like a stone as I crouched beneath the anger induced punch, my left fist lashing out to embed itself in his solar plexus. More strength than was needed was used by accident as my new instincts took over, evident by the fact that his feet lifted up a fraction of an inch off the ground. I stood sharply and my left leg came up with me, the booted foot crashing into his chin to send him eye level with me. My leg came down heavily and I stepped forward with the swing, my right fist blasting into his helmet with enough force to leave a small dent in the higher level gear and send him sprawling on his back.

He laid there, unmoving and his Ghost appeared over him, shooting its scan beam over the older Titan as I flexed my hands, staring at them in wonder.

 _"You really did a number on him.",_ the female voice came from his Ghost and not mine, I realized as she sent me a pointed look. _"But he should be fine in a few hours with some rest."_

I laughed nervously as a few other Guardians came up to see what the commotion was about, and I felt more than a little uncomfortable at the moment, "Ah, sorry about that."

I rubbed the back of my neck, angling my head down so the eyes on me couldn't directly look at my face despite the helmet obscuring it.

"Hey, thanks for that." I turned at the sound of Banshee's voice, my eyes landing on the Gunsmith as he straightened himself out. "I could've taken him, but it's nice to have someone stand up for me."

I nodded and walked over to the booth, having stepped away from it in the midst of my combo, "It's no problem." It was most definitely a problem. "I just hate guys like that."

He nodded in a manner of understanding before he reached down to the counter to pick up the Hand Cannon they were arguing over. I looked it over and found myself liking the design. It was a basic frame, but made with obviously higher quality material. The handle and trigger guard were a sleek black material that looked like a tough grip while the entire rest was a dark red color, almost reminiscent of blood. A small scarlet attachment sat under the barrel with two curved pieces of metal sitting at the end of it. If I had to hazard a guess, it looked like a flashlight while the curved pieces of metal served to focus the beam of light coming out of it.

"Here.", he said simply and my eyes widened. "He didn't want it anyway. And I have a feeling you'd put it to good use."

Hesitantly, I took it from his hands, cradling it like Eris cradled her crystal ball, "Thank you." I nodded. I'll make sure it doesn't go to waste."

I was about to walk away before a recently familiar voice called out behind me, "Woah, what happened here?"

My stomach dropped.

I turned to see Cayde standing there with a pointed look in my direction.

"I-uh…", I stammered to find words, but none would come. Just as I was about to give up, though, she seemed to sense my discomfort and covered for me.

 _"That big brute over there-_

 _"Hey!",_ she was promptly interrupted by said brute's Ghost.

 _"-was messing with Banshee, so Xavier put him in his place.",_ the pride that didn't belong to me flooded through me with renewed vigor and I couldn't help but smile.

Cayde, however, stared unimpressed at the down Titan, arms crossed.

"Well, can't say I condone this kind of behavior.", it was then that I noticed the small crowd of curious eyes had scattered sometime before the Hunter showed up. "But, good job. I've been waiting for someone to knock him down a peg."

I definitely was not beaming behind my helmet.

He coughed into a fist, "Anyway, I just came by to let you know that you can take the rest of the day off while Amanda gets your new ship all set up for you."

I nodded and then a thought hit me, "Hey." He tilted his head at me to show he was listening. "Where am I supposed to sleep?"

Cayde blinked and then his metal visage curled in a smile, "Ah, right!" He gestured to follow him and I did so. "Lemme show you to your room."

 _(…)_

A plasma bolt whizzed by her head as she ducked for cover. She hid in a corner as a Goblin stomped by her, its legs sending tremors through her core.

Fear was not so much an alien feeling to her as it was an unfamiliar one. She had never had to deal with something like this as she searched for her Guardian, but the Vex were nothing if not persistent. She had come to realize that these creatures were an evil so dark they despised other evil. She had scanned the corpse of one after a Guardian strolled through and found herself repulsed at the data she found.

The Black Garden? The Infinite Forest?

The Hobgoblin she scanned didn't have specifics, but she did learn that they were a Hive Mind, limitless able bodies working under one mind. It explained why they held no fear for their lives, unlike say, the Fallen or the Hive. It almost explained why they were so efficient. They had communication and data confluxes scattered just about everywhere on Venus along with Mars and Mercury it seemed.

It also explained why that Goblin had turned around.

She froze when its merciless red optic sensor landed on her, and she had to force herself into gear when it turned around fully to aim its gun at her. She weaved out of the building just as another plasma bolt flew by her shell, just barely tickling her. She hissed in pain all the same as a chip of her dark shell seared off.

As quick as she could, she darted into the next building and hid beneath a desk, the Vex soldier having long lost her. She sat there and calmed herself and she was just about to get back out there to follow her trail, but there was just one problem.

A lone red eye stared down at her from the other end of a plasma gun, the Goblin standing over her impassively. She panicked and barreled into it, sending it stumbling and in its disorientation, she fled towards the door.

 _Bzzt!_

A Ghost with a partially smoking black shell tumbled to the ground within one of the many office buildings of Venus, rolling to a stop against the wall. It tried to move with all its might, but to no avail. So, it sat there and stilled, its cerulean optic light slowly dimming as the seconds passed it by.

A Goblin stepped up to it and scanned it, noting its dangerously low levels of the Light that it was birthed from and it turned, stomping away after it deemed it useless.

As it walked out of the room, the Ghost sent out a pulse of its Light, the very last vestiges it had in it, in a desperate attempt for someone to help. For anyone to help.

But no one came.

 _ **A/N: Alright drop in some names for the MC Ghost and I might just pick one. PM it, stick it in a review, whatever. Otherwise, I'll just make one myself.**_


End file.
